Sunday, November 22, 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
Day-after analysis of Sanders' speech
Despite the media's studious ignorance of the Georgetown event yesterday -- none, not even MSNBC, covered any of it live, and in light of the fact that several outlets televised Hillary Clinton's 'jihadism" trope-athon earlier in the day, which any Republican could have given -- the stemwinder blew up social media. It's also spinning off a variety of conversations, one being that his young fans have to prove themselves as a voting bloc in order to be taken seriously.
But Vox has the best breakdown in this morning's Sentences, and I'll break in with some thoughts.
That link is the full text of yesterday's remarks. If you haven't already seen the video or if you don't have time to read them at the moment, jump over and give Socratic Gadfly's summary a perusal.
Might be too cerebral for the average Democrat, not to mention anybody to the right of them. Read it anyway; it's written for fifth-graders. Let's underscore the fact that when you hear Clintonites say, "we can't elect a socialist because of the batshit Republicans", that they are part of the problem and not the solution. They don't get, or refuse to acknowledge, that they will be called "soshulist" also, and that if they were just bold enough to reclaim the label -- as Sanders does -- rather than continue to allow conservatives to frame it as a pejorative, then they might win an off-year election somewhere down the ballot.
And that would be something to build on. But that's a digression.
I think I just mentioned that.
Maybe the most important history lesson Sanders conveyed. Again, it's worth your time. I'll note simply as matter of housekeeping that I have written that the world really turned for the worse in 1944, when a bunch of pro-business Democrats (among them Jesse Jones of Houston) gathered in a room full of smoke and pushed Henry Wallace off the Democratic ticket in favor of a stooge named Harry Truman. It's all been slippery slope since then. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick tell this story better than me in their seminal series Untold History of the United States, and that's also worth binge-watching. (If you want more along these lines then go here and here.)
The comparisons to today's state of public affairs -- with Islamophobia replacing McCarthyism as just one analogy -- are striking.
And could be -- perhaps needs to be -- more radical still. IMHO and without much doubt, the political revolution Sanders speaks of is ultimately going to have to take place well beyond the 2016 ballot box. Look to this recent speech by Bolivian president Evo Morales for the clue: 'To solve climate change we must abolish capitalism'.
That should be scary enough for a few oil patch Houston Democrats, yes?
Justifiably so. Greens and actual socialists like Kshama Sawant in Seattle (she pointedly avoided specific criticism of his war hawkishness in that link) think Bernie Sanders sold out by running as a Democrat. They think he sold out long before, really, with his votes for an F-35 production facility in Vermont and his stance on guns. I agree with some of this and some I do not; that's another long conversation. For this post I'll focus on the issue of the day: IS, Syria and its war refugees, and what the appropriate US and Western response should be in light of the Paris attacks. The most telling pull-quote from Sanders yesterday was this one, from the Q&A after his speech:
Yeah, I'm a pacifist. In fact, to coin my own oxymoron, I'm a militant pacifist. "There will be peace in our time, and I'll kill any motherfucker that tries to break it."
Something suggests Sanders will cave to the war mongers if he were to somehow be elected. As with "not wanting to be a spoiler like Nader", this is evidence of Bernie's misguided political calculations. He is simply not as far left as people would believe.
I'm not buying that. His coalition is still too Caucasian to win, there's little time left to change that, and he's doomed by the Democratic establishment even if it suddenly did change.
But he's done as much as I ever hoped and expected he would do: change the conversation in this country about real political change. Pull Hillary left a little. It's up to those younger ideologues to keep all of it going.
But Vox has the best breakdown in this morning's Sentences, and I'll break in with some thoughts.
That link is the full text of yesterday's remarks. If you haven't already seen the video or if you don't have time to read them at the moment, jump over and give Socratic Gadfly's summary a perusal.
Might be too cerebral for the average Democrat, not to mention anybody to the right of them. Read it anyway; it's written for fifth-graders. Let's underscore the fact that when you hear Clintonites say, "we can't elect a socialist because of the batshit Republicans", that they are part of the problem and not the solution. They don't get, or refuse to acknowledge, that they will be called "soshulist" also, and that if they were just bold enough to reclaim the label -- as Sanders does -- rather than continue to allow conservatives to frame it as a pejorative, then they might win an off-year election somewhere down the ballot.
And that would be something to build on. But that's a digression.
I think I just mentioned that.
Maybe the most important history lesson Sanders conveyed. Again, it's worth your time. I'll note simply as matter of housekeeping that I have written that the world really turned for the worse in 1944, when a bunch of pro-business Democrats (among them Jesse Jones of Houston) gathered in a room full of smoke and pushed Henry Wallace off the Democratic ticket in favor of a stooge named Harry Truman. It's all been slippery slope since then. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick tell this story better than me in their seminal series Untold History of the United States, and that's also worth binge-watching. (If you want more along these lines then go here and here.)
The comparisons to today's state of public affairs -- with Islamophobia replacing McCarthyism as just one analogy -- are striking.
And could be -- perhaps needs to be -- more radical still. IMHO and without much doubt, the political revolution Sanders speaks of is ultimately going to have to take place well beyond the 2016 ballot box. Look to this recent speech by Bolivian president Evo Morales for the clue: 'To solve climate change we must abolish capitalism'.
That should be scary enough for a few oil patch Houston Democrats, yes?
Justifiably so. Greens and actual socialists like Kshama Sawant in Seattle (she pointedly avoided specific criticism of his war hawkishness in that link) think Bernie Sanders sold out by running as a Democrat. They think he sold out long before, really, with his votes for an F-35 production facility in Vermont and his stance on guns. I agree with some of this and some I do not; that's another long conversation. For this post I'll focus on the issue of the day: IS, Syria and its war refugees, and what the appropriate US and Western response should be in light of the Paris attacks. The most telling pull-quote from Sanders yesterday was this one, from the Q&A after his speech:
"I have a lot of respect for people who may be pacifists, I am not a pacifist" - #BernieAtGU pic.twitter.com/04rok8XU6g
— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) November 19, 2015
Yeah, I'm a pacifist. In fact, to coin my own oxymoron, I'm a militant pacifist. "There will be peace in our time, and I'll kill any motherfucker that tries to break it."
Something suggests Sanders will cave to the war mongers if he were to somehow be elected. As with "not wanting to be a spoiler like Nader", this is evidence of Bernie's misguided political calculations. He is simply not as far left as people would believe.
I'm not buying that. His coalition is still too Caucasian to win, there's little time left to change that, and he's doomed by the Democratic establishment even if it suddenly did change.
But he's done as much as I ever hoped and expected he would do: change the conversation in this country about real political change. Pull Hillary left a little. It's up to those younger ideologues to keep all of it going.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Bernie Sanders to speak on socialism
Democratic socialism, to be precise, although most people (including far too many Clinton Democrats) won't be able to understand what he's saying. Regardless of Americans' glaring lack of listening comprehension, Sanders has a lot riding on the speech. PoliticsUSA -- a somewhat unreliable outlet for news, even when it's biased my way -- reports that speech will be today.
So we'll apparently learn about how hawkish Sanders is going to present himself. His support of the F-35 and his views on gun safety have been tells in that regard.
No other media outlets are yet reporting the speech will be today (in a perfunctory Google search). Their stories are all a month old, but still worth reading as they assess the challenge he faces. Politico has fourteen things he has previously said over the years about socialism. Here's one.
As said previously, I don't expect any Republicans, and certainly not enough partisan Democrats, to get it. Their reactions to the Paris terrorism, the Syrian refugees, and a lot of other history suggests to me that it's too late for them to get it. But I'll try to be a little more optimistic.
Update: Livestream the speech here. And full text of prepared remarks here. Excerpt:
The future of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign will be defined by a major speech that he is giving on democratic socialism and defeating ISIS at Georgetown University on Thursday.
According to the Sanders campaign, “Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday will deliver remarks on democratic socialism and his vision for creating an American future based on economic and social justice and environmental sanity. His remarks will also include specific ideas on U.S. foreign policy, how the U.S. can lead the world in defeating ISIS and a long-term strategy to promote a safer and more peaceful world. The speech will take place at The Institute of Politics and Public Service at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy. Following his address, the Democratic Party presidential candidate will respond to questions from Georgetown University students.”
The section on defeating ISIS was added to speech because the Sanders campaign understands that many people may not be familiar with his foreign policy positions. The speech will be a major moment in the Sanders campaign. The views of Sen. Sanders have been twisted by Republican presidential candidates and misunderstood by much of the media throughout his campaign. In their view, democratic socialist has become socialist. Many in the press don’t see the distinction, so Sen. Sanders needs to educate them.
So we'll apparently learn about how hawkish Sanders is going to present himself. His support of the F-35 and his views on gun safety have been tells in that regard.
The Paris terrorist attack has pivoted the race for the Democratic nomination away from the strength of the Sanders campaign. Bernie Sanders is at his best on the campaign trail when he is discussing income inequality and the economy, but the biggest hurdle that Sanders still needs to overcome involves name recognition and his democratic socialism.
His aides are comparing (today)’s 2 PM ET speech to President Obama’s speech on race, and the stakes are similar. This is a sink or swim moment for the Sanders campaign. If Bernie Sanders puts the questions about his democratic socialistic beliefs behind him, he could gain a new burst of momentum. If he fails, the current trajectory of the Democratic primary may accelerate towards Hillary Clinton.
No other media outlets are yet reporting the speech will be today (in a perfunctory Google search). Their stories are all a month old, but still worth reading as they assess the challenge he faces. Politico has fourteen things he has previously said over the years about socialism. Here's one.
“I think it means the government has got to play a very important role in making sure that as a right of citizenship, all of our people have health care; that as a right, all of our kids, regardless of income, have quality childcare, are able to go to college without going deeply into debt; that it means we do not allow large corporations and moneyed interests to destroy our environment; that we create a government in which it is not dominated by big money interest. I mean, to me, it means democracy, frankly. That’s all it means. And we are living in an increasingly undemocratic society in which decisions are made by people who have huge sums of money. And that’s the goal that we have to achieve.”
As said previously, I don't expect any Republicans, and certainly not enough partisan Democrats, to get it. Their reactions to the Paris terrorism, the Syrian refugees, and a lot of other history suggests to me that it's too late for them to get it. But I'll try to be a little more optimistic.
Update: Livestream the speech here. And full text of prepared remarks here. Excerpt:
So the next time you hear me attacked as a socialist, remember this:
I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.
I believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America instead of shipping jobs and profits overseas.
I believe that most Americans can pay lower taxes – if hedge fund managers who make billions manipulating the marketplace finally pay the taxes they should.
I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1%, but I do believe in equal treatment for African-Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.
I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice, and I do believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life.
I don’t believe in some foreign “ism”, but I believe deeply in American idealism.
I’m not running for president because it’s my turn, but because it’s the turn of all of us to live in a nation of hope and opportunity not for some, not for the few, but for all.
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